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Greetings, and welcome to VIEWING THE CLASSICS. Here you'll find capsule reviews of vintage movies from the early days of cinema through the 1970s, with a special emphasis on sci-fi, horror, and mystery movies. Be sure to check out the Pages links, where you can find a Film Index of all my reviews, links to the reviews organized by cast members, directors, and other contributors, and links to my reviews of the films of talented young director Joshua Kennedy.

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Tuesday, June 19, 2018

The Phantom Of 42nd Street (1945)

Starring Dave O'Brien, Kay Aldridge, Alan Mowbray, Frank Jenks, Edythe Elliott
Directed by Albert Herman
(actor & director credits courtesy IMDB.com)

At the urging of his editor, a newspaper drama critic turns investigative reporter to solve murders connected to a theater showing classical plays, mounted by a wealthy family. 

A low budget production from PRC, the film lacks any particularly well-known stars, although O'Brien is a more than competent lead as the newspaper critic, and Mowbray had been a reliable character actor for decades, as he is here.  They're surrounded by familar faces from many a poverty row production, including Jenks, Stanley Price, Robert Strange, Milton Kibbee, and Jack Mulhall as the predictably flustered detective.  Although the identity of the murderer won't come as a big shock to anyone, the picture is efficiently directed and the screenplay presents a wealth of suspects while distinguishing them well enough from the other actors.  However, although O'Brien and Aldridge's characters are definitely interested in each other, their romance is given short shrift in favor of comic relief scenes with Jenks and his dimwitted girlfriend, played by Vera Marshe.

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